The Wild Reed: Out and About – Summer 2015 (Part 2)

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Out and About – Summer 2015 (Part 2)

Tomorrow is the autumnal equinox, an astronomical event that marks the end of summer here in the northern hemisphere. A good time, then, to conclude my two-part series, "Out and About – Summer 2015! (For Part 1, click here.)

I begin this second installment with two images from the vigil against weaponized drones that I participated in last weekend at Camp Ripley, MN. In the image above I'm pictured with my friend Sue Ann. For more images and information about both tes issue of weaponized drones and this particular event, click here.

Above: On Thursday, September 3, I was part of a three-person delegation from the Catholic Coalition for Church Reform (CCCR) that met with Interim Archbishop Bernard Hebda at the chancery of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis. (It was actually the archbishop's birthday that day, and he's pictured holding the gift we brought him.)

Yes, it's quite astounding how far we've come! After all, it wasn't that long ago when CCCR was denounced by the former archbishop, John Nienstedt (see here and here.) And now here we are being welcomed at the chancery! In the past, I've always been there in a very different capacity (see, for example, here and here.)

I'll share my thoughts about our September 3 meeting in a later post. For now, here is how the meeting was described by CCCR to the group's Lay Network.

Thanks for all the prayers and encouragement for CCCR's meeting with Archbishop Bernard Hebda. Michael Bayly, Art Stoeberl, and Paula Ruddy, CCCR Board members, met with him on Thursday afternoon, September 3.

Our purpose was to request Archbishop Hebda's support for an open and broad consultation process before the appointment of the next archbishop.

The good news is that he and the Archdiocesan staff have already begun planning for eight listening sessions throughout the archdiocese during September and October. They will focus on the needs for leadership in the archdiocese and the qualities of leadership the people perceive to be necessary here. In addition to listening sessions, they are planning other methods of communication too, written opinions, electronic surveys, etc. This is the kind of communication process we were hoping for, and we are grateful to the Archbishop and his staff.

Archbishop Hebda was welcoming, friendly and down to business. He is open to input from us and took notes on the suggestions we made for venues.

Now our job is to participate in this process and to urge everyone we know to come with us. We can't be apathetic now. If we hope to get the kind of leadership we say we want, we must turn out in numbers and speak up. Do we hear an Amen?

We will let you know when and where as soon as we have that information.

Commenting on the meeting, Archbishop Hebda told the National Catholic Reporter:

I was pleased to meet with three members of the CCCR and was delighted to learn that they share my interest in engaging in a wide consultation of the faithful in assessing the needs of the archdiocese. I was also happy to share with them some of the preliminary plans for that consultation, and appreciated their input and offer of collaboration.

UPDATE: Fall Listening Session Series Aims to Shape Archdiocese’s Future – Maria Wiering (The Catholic Spirit, September 20, 2015).

As I mentioned in Part 1, since the beginning of the year my good friend Pete and I have been meeting every Thursday morning for breakfast. We thought it would be fun to get a photograph of us at every new restaurant we visited. And it has been!

In the photo above we're in the lovely garden of Cafe Southside in Minneapolis – Thursday, August 27, 2015.

Left: At the Nicollet Diner, Minneapolis, September 3, 2015.

Right: At Our Kitchen Diner, Minneapolis, June 25, 2015.

Left: At the Blackbird Cafe, Minneapolis, July 30, 2015. I think it's fair to say that the Blackbird is our favorite breakfast place so far.

That's a copy of Winston Graham's The Loving Cup on the table. It's the tenth novel in Graham's Poldark series of historical fiction. I introduced Pete to these novels at the end of last year, and he's almost finished reading all twelve! He also enjoyed the recent Poldark BBC TV series, as did I! And good news! . . . The second season of Poldark is currently being filmed in Cornwall.

Above: On Thursday, September 17, my friends Tom and Darlene White invited me and a number of our mutual friends to dinner at their new home in St. Louis Park. Pictured from left: Darlene, me, Kathleen, Brigid, Paula and Tom.

Above: With friends George and Joan.

Above: Dinner at what I've come to call "the French Quarter," the welcoming St. Paul home of my friends John and Noelle. Pictured clockwise from left: John, Noelle, Brittany, Phil, Curtis, Liana, and Amelia – August 23, 2015.

Left: With Eddie, the "wonder dog"!

Above: Ziggy!

Above: At the August 9, 2015 Dignity Twin Cities mass with friends Jim Smith and Fr. John Brandes. You may recall that John is the inspiration for the character of "Father Brandon" in my semi-autobiographical Wild Reed series, The Journal of James Curtis.

Above: Cloud City! . . . The view of downtown Minneapolis across Lake Calhourn – July 2015..

Above: At right with friends Rick, Neil and Jim – August 1, 2015.

Left: Friends Walter, Barry and Raul.

Twice this summer friends and I attended the free concerts held at the Lake Harriet Bandshell. Early in August we saw the Brass Messengers (above), while on August 21 we saw The Pines (right).

Below: Friends at Lake Harriet – August 21, 2015. From left: Joan, George, Carla and Kathleen.

Above: With my good friend Raul – July 2015.

Above I've mentioned it many times before that Raul has one of the best views in Minneapolis! His Uptown apartment looks southwest over Lake Calhourn, and affords some stunningly beautiful views.

Above: The Minneapolis Aquatennial, an annual celebration of the city's lakes, rivers and streams – Saturday, July 25, 2015.

More than 250,000 people attended the fireworks show in the city's riverside Mill City district. I was there with my friends Eric, Kyle and Pete (right).

Left: With Pete – July 25, 2015.

Above and left: At the weekly Wednesday afternoon peace vigil sponsored by the Twin Cities Peace Campaign and WAMM – August 26, 2015.

Since 1999 this weekly vigil has been held on the Lake St./Marshall Ave. bridge which spans the Mississippi River and links the "Twin Cities" of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Above: Friends Tim and Colleen at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for a Free Arts Minnesota event– August 2015.

The sculpture at right is by Igor Mitoraj and entitled Eros. Notes the MIA website:

Eros, depicted bandaged and marred by cracks, points out the contradiction between the ideals of strength and beauty and the inherent fragility of the human condition. Life is precious because it is fleeting. And love causes both joy and heartache. The post-modern monumental scale of Eros also suggests the glories and failures of entire civilizations.

Above: A summer evening meal with friends on the rooftop of my friend Raul's apartment. From left: Barry, Walter, Henry, Ron, Jeff and Raul,

Above: A birthday brunch for my friend Brian – August 30, 2015. From left: Rick, Brian and me. We're at Pannekoeken in St. Louis Park!

Left: Out to dinner with friends Raul, Brittany and Phil . . . before going to see the film Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet at the Lagoon in Uptown, Minneapolis – September 3, 2015. We're at the Amazing Thailand restaurant in Uptown and I'm still dressed in my more formal attire from my visit earlier in the day with Archbishop Hebda!

The Prophet is a great film, and I definitely recommend it. Here's a little of what Variety's Peter Debruge has to say about it:

Think of Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet as a gift: a work of essential spiritual enlightenment, elegantly interpreted by nine of the world’s leading independent animators, all tied up and wrapped in a family-friendly bow by The Lion King director Roger Allers. A longtime passion project for producer Salma Hayek (credited here as Salma Hayek-Pinault), Lebanese philosopher-poet Kahlil Gibran’s cherished guide to life, death, love, art and so forth doesn’t naturally lend itself to big screen interpretation, and at first, the pic’s framing device seems too silly for such soulful subject matter. But the freshly scripted wraparound doesn’t shy away from grown-up concerns, while potentially broadening the book’s reach to younger audiences as well.

And here's a snippet of The Salt Lake Tribune's Sean P. Means' review:

Gibran's messages of living simply and thankfully, of transcending national, ethnic and religious divides with kindness and honesty, retain their universal appeal in this rendition.

The Prophet, the movie, is an artful introduction to the uninitiated, and for Gibran's fans a beautiful reminder of the book's thoughtful approach to life.

Above: Friends (from left) Brigid, Carol, Kathleen, Ken and Sue Ann – August 2015.

Above: Protesting weaponized drones at the weekly Lake St./Marshall Ave peace vigil – September 2015. For more on this issue, click here.

Above: Standing by Lake Minnetonka at the Port of Excelsior, Minnesota – September 5, 2015.

Above: Friends (from left) John, Noelle, Brittany and Val – September 16, 2015.

Above: On Sunday, September 6, 2015, I joined with around 50 others in Minnehaha Park to show solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of people undertaking the dangerous journey to Europe from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and other war-torn parts of the world.

For more images and information about both this issue and event, click here.

Above: My friend David took this photo. It shows 26-year-old Syrian American and University of Minnesota law student Suzan Boulad, who was the key organizer of the September 6 solidarity rally for the refugees of Syria and the world.

That's me in the background at far left. I'm usually so intent on taking photos at events like this that I often don't get in many of them!

For more images and information about both the issue of refugees and this particular rally, click here.

Above and below: With friends at the 27th Minneapolis Greek Festival - St. Mary's Greek Orthodox Church, September 12, 2015. From left: Joan, Steve, Carla and me.

Above: Friends (from left) Joan, Steve, Carla, Raul, Karam and Archana – September 12, 2015.

Above: On Saturday, September 19, 2015, I made a number of new friends when my friend Pete invited me to join him and his friends at a street party in downtown Minneapolis. From left: Peter, Bret, Tim, Jim, Chris, Sarah, Pete and Tim.